At the fact Kimi Raikkonen has managed to weasel himself back to Ferrari. C'mon, when one who is mmersed in F1 really thinks about it, it's pretty much a frickin unbelievable feat that Kimi Raikkonen who essentially was not only dumped but paid off by Ferrari not to drive for them in order for Fernando Alonso to come in and take his seat, is now not only again getting himself on the Ferrari payroll but driving next to the driver that got him booted in the first place!
I mean, let's give the man props when it's due. Here is a person who was as exiled as one could get, be it by design or by choice, his driving reputation in tatters (practically) and he only had basically the vote of confidence from his gaggle of crazy fan(atic)s that stood by his side. Pundits, principals and drivers galore were believing in the media perpetuated image of Kimi the ne'er do well. Or something to that effect. Everybody seemed to have forgotten his frickin awesome McLaren years and the recent World Championship he won with Ferrari. He clearly wasn't some superstar has-been. He still had it in him. But circumstances (or again, choice) took him out of the sport.
Yet 2 years later, he came back. He came back better than ever, better than expected and all the better for leaving. His stock rose like it never did before and I have to admit, his popularity as a driver has grown by leaps and bounds. If he was a popular guy before his first F1 stint, he's starting to reach cult status by this second time round. It's crazy how many people have crawled out of the woodworks and become Kimi fans but I welcome all onboard the ICE train. Just don't be too fanboy/fangirl-ish.
Anyways, an additional two years putting in the time with Lotus, mucho gracias (or should I spring some Finnish and say kiitos?) Lotus for bringing the Iceman back into the F1 fold. I truly appreciated the opening of the door, thanks, from the bottom of my heart. When the rumours started I initially thought "NO WAY IN HELL!" Then as the machine kept gaining, I thought, "Well, anything is really possible but Kimi back in Red? That's like Luca D licking his spit! That's like Kimi allowing himself the opportunity to be, ehem, screwed again." Then as the inevitable announcement of where my driver was driving next year came upon us, I figured "Here we go again" Am still apprehensive about the whole going back to Red but it's Kimi's choice after all and I'm also starting to believe it's been his master plan all along. I'm starting to think that his end game was to get himself back with Ferrari. To prove to them that they made one hell of a mistake when they let him leave in 2009. To make them say, "We were wrong, Kimster" Cos they damn sure were wrong!
Okay, so anyway, it dawned on me how amazing it is that he has managed to accomplish this. F1 drivers, most of them anyway, dream of driving for The Prancing Horse outfit. This totally cool dude gets to do it twice in his F1 career. So how could that not be totally amazeballs?
I mean, let's give the man props when it's due. Here is a person who was as exiled as one could get, be it by design or by choice, his driving reputation in tatters (practically) and he only had basically the vote of confidence from his gaggle of crazy fan(atic)s that stood by his side. Pundits, principals and drivers galore were believing in the media perpetuated image of Kimi the ne'er do well. Or something to that effect. Everybody seemed to have forgotten his frickin awesome McLaren years and the recent World Championship he won with Ferrari. He clearly wasn't some superstar has-been. He still had it in him. But circumstances (or again, choice) took him out of the sport.
Yet 2 years later, he came back. He came back better than ever, better than expected and all the better for leaving. His stock rose like it never did before and I have to admit, his popularity as a driver has grown by leaps and bounds. If he was a popular guy before his first F1 stint, he's starting to reach cult status by this second time round. It's crazy how many people have crawled out of the woodworks and become Kimi fans but I welcome all onboard the ICE train. Just don't be too fanboy/fangirl-ish.
Anyways, an additional two years putting in the time with Lotus, mucho gracias (or should I spring some Finnish and say kiitos?) Lotus for bringing the Iceman back into the F1 fold. I truly appreciated the opening of the door, thanks, from the bottom of my heart. When the rumours started I initially thought "NO WAY IN HELL!" Then as the machine kept gaining, I thought, "Well, anything is really possible but Kimi back in Red? That's like Luca D licking his spit! That's like Kimi allowing himself the opportunity to be, ehem, screwed again." Then as the inevitable announcement of where my driver was driving next year came upon us, I figured "Here we go again" Am still apprehensive about the whole going back to Red but it's Kimi's choice after all and I'm also starting to believe it's been his master plan all along. I'm starting to think that his end game was to get himself back with Ferrari. To prove to them that they made one hell of a mistake when they let him leave in 2009. To make them say, "We were wrong, Kimster" Cos they damn sure were wrong!
Okay, so anyway, it dawned on me how amazing it is that he has managed to accomplish this. F1 drivers, most of them anyway, dream of driving for The Prancing Horse outfit. This totally cool dude gets to do it twice in his F1 career. So how could that not be totally amazeballs?
